


Dissimilate

by ReymieNightmare



Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Alternate Auto Erotic Assimilation, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-27 08:13:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17763077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReymieNightmare/pseuds/ReymieNightmare
Summary: Rick, Morty, and Summer C-167 run across one of Rick's old girl-friends. Thing quickly get out of hand, and Morty and Summer are forced to return without Rick. When Rick returns, Morty finds out he may have misinterpreted some of Rick's actions and there is really only one way to fix it. Force Rick to talk it out.





	Dissimilate

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo! So, normally I don't feel the need to input notes in my fics, if you like it you like it, awesome, if you don't, well that's your prerogative. However, for this one I felt it necessary to explain a bit. I'm really not all that great at summaries, so to give a little bit more about what you're getting into without spoilers. This is basically a rewrite of S2-E3 but in a different dimension, some of the plot points that happen throughout the series are in different order because well it's a different dimension.  
> That all being said, I really hope you enjoy my writing and the little story I thought out based off that episode. Enjoy!

Morty had settled down with one of Rick’s abandoned old inventions, on one of the terraces of Unity’s main buildings. Rick had started many a thing and quickly became bored with the concept. Morty C-167 had taken up tinkering with Rick’s old stuff to try and advance his usefulness to Rick. He had gotten pretty good at it, or so Rick’s random compliments had said. Given that Rick never complimented anyone, he figured it meant something important to receive them. Summer had run off to try and inspire free will in Unity’s assimilated peoples and Rick—well, Rick had run of with Unity.

_Summer, Morty, this is Unity. We, uh, used to, uh, sort of—date._

Morty scowled at himself tugging down his sleeves. There was no reason for him to be so upset, no reason at all. Rick wasn’t his and he never would be. Morty knew what he was feeling. It was jealousy and that simple thought made him sick to his stomach. He knew he couldn’t blame Rick. Rick was just being Rick, but that was the worst part. Morty loved everything to do with Rick, he knew he was really fucked in the head for doing it too, but he couldn’t help it. Now, he had no delusions as to what kind of person Rick was. Rick Sanchez might as well have invented the word asshole, it was so ingrained into his very being and every action he took. Yet Morty had seen the bits of Rick that weren’t utterly awful, seen Rick’s heart. It wasn’t what he portrayed, but Morty also knew that Rick had done the awful things for so long it was all that he knew now. He didn’t know how to deal with emotions, he didn’t know how to make choices that benefited someone other than himself. 

Morty growled lowly as he pried open the back of the old version of Rick’s portal gun. He gently pulled out the wiring and placed it in the slightly less archaic version it, this one had broken a little while ago. Morty had used the old one to replace the cracked frame and dome. Morty hated how out of control he felt of himself. He normally had a pretty good mastery of his own reactions to things, so much so it was noticed by other Mortys. He unlike his other selves could keep his freaking out invisible to Rick—for the most part—or anyone else, but for some reason he couldn’t smother his jealousy. It was such an illogical emotion, Rick would come back to the house when he became bored, but—that’s it.

 _It’s because he used to_ date _her._

Morty shoved one of his hands into his hair underneath his hood. Date. Rick didn’t date, that was like his number one rule. He had one-night stands, strictly one-night stands. Sometimes it wasn’t even a night. It was like three hours of his time dedicated to someone who could get him off and then he’d run back to science. But he dated Unity. Dated. In like an exclusive manner, well, as exclusive as one could get when dating a hive-mind. It was the principal of dating that shook Morty to his very core. Of _Rick_ dating.

Morty sighed as he tightened the wiring causing electricity to crackle to life within the device. Morty swallowed his emotions. He didn’t control Rick, he wasn’t his keeper. Rick was his own person, and above all else Rick did what he wanted, when he wanted, nobody else mattered. Morty attached the top frame of the portal gun and inputted the information. Done, it should work now. Morty stood up and aimed directly over the terrace railing, he fired.

_BOOM!_

Morty was shot back into the wall behind him by the force of the explosion. He slumped to the floor and went through his mental checklist of body parts. Everything accounted for, he let out a small groan, what little damage he did have he could feel the nanobots that Rick injected him with a long time ago working to quickly fix the damage. His sleeves had fallen over his hands again. He heard footsteps and then a couple of people who lived on the planet popped in. “Morty! Are you okay? I heard the explosion.”

“O-oh, h-hi, Unity,” Morty held up the portal gun. “Just a little miscal-cal-cal-calulation. I’m okay. Rick’s random little exp-experiments have set me up one little explosion.”

“Rick experiments on you?” She asked almost incredulous, like she was completely shocked and aghast. Maybe even a little horrified. Morty stuffed the portal gun into his pocket and stood up wiping his cheek with his sleeve as both parts of her checked him over for injuries. He couldn’t even hate Unity, she was so nice. Yet here he was stuck with this anger with no where to direct it.

“Not wit-without my exp-explicit permission, don’t worry,” Morty gave her his apparently signature shy smile, or so Rick told him it was signature. He supposed, in a way it was in comparison to other Mortys. There were all kinds of Mortys. Lizard Morty, Girl Morty, Smart Morty, like Rick says, infinite Mortys. Some Mortys referred to him as Shy Morty, he couldn’t take offense. It was accurate, his shyness was what gave him the usual control over his emotions.

Unity smiled softly at him and nodded. Morty felt guilty for the anger he was feeling, Unity didn’t deserve it. “Alright, if you say so. Why are you by yourself?”

“I work bet-better by myself, I’m done now though. I h-have to work on th-this in a more secure environment from now on,” Morty laughed a little stuffing his hands in his hoodie pockets. Hiding in his hoodie, that was the easiest way to smother his jealousy. His hoodie a physical symbol to ground him in control. He could do this. “Can you take me to Summer?”

“Sure, I’m shocked you didn’t ask for Rick,” She said turning around and leading the way off the terrace and basically out of the building. Morty felt his emotions rise up again. _Stop it._ He had no claim to Rick, no matter how close they had gotten over the years. Rick belonged to Rick.

He smothered his emotions again and smiled brightly at Unity. “I figured Rick was busy with you. He hasn’t seen you for a long time and I-I-I didn’t want to in-interrupt your c-catching up.”

Unity glanced back at him and nodded. “Thank you for that, Morty. Your sister doesn’t share that same sentiment. She doesn’t like me.”

“S-She just doesn’t understand, Unity, she hasn’t seen all of the stuff I have,” Morty explained to her as they reached the main lobby. It was just the girl now. The other one had wandered off somewhere. “Sh-She has what Rick calls a planetary mindsight. She hasn’t grown out of it yet.”

“You’re so sweet, Morty. Thank you, I’m glad at least some of Rick’s family likes me, I do care a lot about your grandfather,” She smiled sweetly and squeezed his shoulder while gesturing towards the door. “She’s just outside, trying to inspire freewill.”

Morty clenched his hands in his pockets and left the building. He could do this. Rick was his own person, he wasn’t defined by his Morty. Morty the same, right? He wasn’t defined by Rick. Oh, who was he kidding? Morty wouldn’t ever be able to get over Rick, especially with his emotions being not so familial in nature.

When Morty found Summer, she was standing on what looked like a monument of some kind and yelling through a mega-phone. “Wake up! Remember who you are!”

Morty sighed and rolled his eyes. Why couldn’t his stupid family just go with the flow of things? He made his way over to her. “H-Hey, Summer. Stop it. You’re embarrassing. U-Unity’s really nice.”

Summer sighed and jumped down. “Morty, she’s taken over their minds. They didn’t have a choice in this! Wake up!”

“You know I can hear you, right?” Unity asked through a random guy off to Morty’s left.

“I’m not talking to you! I’m talking to him,” Summer slapped the man in front of her. Morty reached out a little bit, the guy didn’t seem particularly injured though, so he stayed where he was.

“Summer!”

Morty was helpless as Summer pulled out the man’s wallet and flipped it open. “Steven Phillips! Steven, wake up! Set yourself free!”

“Why do you hate me, Summer?” Unity asked solemnly, she sounded so sad as the words came out. Morty actually wanted to give her a hug. “I’ve helped this world achieve so much, where before it was chaos, now it’s a paradise. This man here used to be a registered sex offender.”

“W-Well, so? At least he was himself,” Summer stammered out as she pulled back crossing her arms. Morty sighed. Leave it to his family to be stubborn even when presented with solid facts.

“Unity. L-Listen, I don’t think my sister is trying to say their lives would be b-b-better without you, but it would be, you know life,” Morty tried to explain as a larger group of people started to come over. He wasn’t sure he could actually defuse the situation, but Summer forced his hand.

“I have turned this world into a peaceful paradise, Morty,” Unity explained, each section of her words presented by a new individual. “Prostitutes are now scientists, the homeless are phisosiphers—philofosers…”

As Unity trailed off the random people around started to sway and clutch their stomachs. Summer scoffed and crossed her arms again. “Oh, my god. Phisosiphers? Where did you learn to talk you grandpa stealing slut?”

“Summer!” Morty snapped in her general direction, as much as the dark parts of himself agreed, even if for completely different reasons, it wasn’t nice or polite. Unity deserved better than that. When Morty turned back to Unity, the entire circle of people around them had started to throw up one by one. He watched in confusion and concern as the circle of people all collapsed like dominoes, one after the other.

“Unity, are you alright?” Morty asked hurriedly coming closer. “Awe, geez, let me help you all up.”

“We’re fine!”

Morty and Summer backed away but turned sharply at a small explosive sound. More and more people were collapsing and throwing up. Buildings were starting to collapse, amongst the chaos. Morty grabbed his sisters’ hand and they started briskly walking towards a safer location. This was definitely not good.

“What’s happening?” Summer asked Morty dragged her along.

Morty froze as he heard the distant sound of metal creaking. He spun around and looked up a massive section of what looked like piping was currently falling from a rather large height. Morty yanked his sister out of the way, both of them falling into the dirt as the piping crashed into the ground. They both sat up and looked around. Everyone was holding their head and shaking it, as if they were just waking up. “I-I-I think you’re going to get your wish, Summer.”

Summer stood up and walked forward toward a group of people. “Unity?”

Some guy in a purple shirt turned to face her. “Who’s Unity? I’m Paul Lancaster, I’m an engineer, father of three. And as you can see by my concentric triangular nipple rings, I’m a member of this world’s top race!”

Morty felt like a rock had settled in the pit of his stomach. Oh geez, wonderful. Racists. Summer held up her hands placatingly. “That’s good, let’s not pay too much attention to that last part though.”

She sounded hesitant. Of course, she did. Morty could see where this was heading. Race war. Sure enough, a few seconds later another man ripped off his shirt and declared the first guy to be full of shit, the groups of people behind each person yelled in agreement. Somebody even ran by and yelled Race war. Morty sighed and smothered the anxiety he felt bubbling up in the pit of his stomach. Oh, geez, wonderful. It’s just what they needed. Racists.

Morty pulled Summer out of the line of fire and crossed his arms. She was freaking out a little. “What is wrong with them? Can’t they see they’re all the same?”

Morty rolled his eyes. This could have been completely avoided. Damnit Summer, Damnit Rick. “It’s your first Race War. This is normal. J-J-Just let it play out, but don’t try to get involved.

They ended up dodging fistfights and running to avoid massive full on brawls for at least ten minutes before settling themselves behind a car that had been parked much to close to a building. Morty felt the combination of anger at Rick and Summer, plus the anger for the entire situation well up inside of himself. “Damnit Summer! Y-You just had to inspire free will, didn’t you? Well congratulations you started a damn race war!”

“Hey, it’s not my fault they’re racists!” She yelled back at him and he let out a soft growl, peaking over the car. They needed to find Unity, and Rick so they could go home. This was getting ridiculous.

“Hey, you two! Which race are you?”

Before Morty could stop her, Summer had yanked up Morty’s hoodie and t-shirt showing off his nipples. “We’re neither! We have normal nipples!”

“Hey! These freaks have no race! Get them!”

“Nice, Summer!” Morty gritted out grabbing her hand and started to run. He ran through some alleyway, only to get stuck at a dead-end. They were being converged on from all angles, the people that had chased them held weapons threateningly. Morty forced himself to take slow deep breaths, now was _not_ the time for a panic attack.

Summer held him tightly hiding her face in his shoulder. When one of the men lunged toward him, Morty flinched fully expecting the hit. Only no hit came. “Hey, Morty, Summer. Are you alright?”

Morty glanced up hesitantly. “U-Unity?”

“Hey, guys!” She said excitedly. She seemed a little too happy for what was happening. Of course, she’d been spending time with Rick. She’s probably either drunk or high as hell. Morty couldn’t stop himself from rolling his eyes as they were grabbed by what looked like SWAT men and hauled up into a hovercraft that floated safely above the chaos.

When they were all settled, Morty stuffed his hands into his pockets. Summer was breathing heavily in between her knees. “Thank you so much, Unity. I am so sorry. This is definitely not what I had in mind when I was fighting for their freedom.”

Morty kept quiet. It was best. He probably would end up saying something that wasn’t good. Unity laughed a little, she sounded airy and carefree. A tone that really didn’t sit right with Morty. “Oh, you did nothing wrong, Summer! I’m just having fun relaxing with your grandpa and lost a little bit of control. I’m totally fine!”

Morty highly doubted that, but once again kept his mouth shut. As they continued on toward to what he assumed was the part of the planet still under Unity’s influence, silence took over the ship. They landed soon after though, Morty and Summer being led into the building, to the woman who Morty recognized as being the represented “main body” of the entire planet.

She was laying on a table, her purple over coat no where to be found. The entire building looked like the Smith house after one of Rick’s parties. Absolutely trashed. Summer ran forward towards Unity. “Unity, what the hell happened here?”

The obviously sloshed Unity rose her head unsteadily. “Oh, don’t worry about it, the part of me that’s a cleaning crew is coming on Friday! Shit, I have a meeting the Galactic Federation in a couple of hours. I’m never going to make it! Oh, well, I’ll just push it till next week.”

Morty felt his face contort under his hood. This was definitely nothing like the responsible, goal-oriented Unity he had met when he first arrived on the planet. Summer looked irritated now. “What? Unity, where is our grandpa? We want to go home.”

Unity shot up instantly, almost frantically. “No! Rick is busy-”

“Yeah, we know. Having sex with you, disgusting. Bring him out here!” Summer demanded. Her comment made Morty flinch. Of course, he knew that. He knew Rick was having sex and generally just being with Unity. He knew that. Somehow it didn’t stop the pain of that blunt statement from lancing through his chest.

“I really don’t think he wants-”

“Grandpa Rick! Rick, come out here! Grandpa Rick!” Summer started yelling and Morty just tugged on his hood. He would not be getting involved in this if he could. “Grandpa Rick if you don’t come out right now, I’m telling mom and dad about the sub-lab you have underneath the garage!”

There was a shattering of glass and then Rick stumbled out, literally stumbled. He had to catch himself on the wall. Oh, great. Rick was fucked too. Morty hid himself as much as possible in his hoodie. “What the fuck do you guys want? And what the hell kind of shit is that?”

“We want to go home, Grandpa, right now,” Morty acknowledged Summer had balls for trying to get Rick to bend to her will through sheer force alone. It wasn’t going to work though. You either convinced Rick it benefited him to do the thing you wanted, or he wasn’t going to do it. Period.

Rick groaned and stumbled over towards the table in the center of the room. He knocked away a few cups and bottles, before pulling away with his prize. The portal-gun. He pressed the button on the top and shot a portal against the far wall. “Be my guests!”

“You’re not coming?” Summer said incredulously. You’d think she’d be on board given how Rick was as a person.

“No! I’m quite fine right here, thanks!” Rick wrapped his arms around two people and grinned as they clung to him. Morty felt that anger again, he took a slow deep breath. Unity drunkenly cheered a little.

“Grandpa Rick, we’re not leaving without you!” Summer exclaimed marching towards him.

Rick fell forward a little and rolled his eyes. “Ooh, I get it. You’re afraid the big bad hive-mind is going to steal your grandpa!”

Morty barely stifled his scoff at that. No one stole Rick. Rick was Rick’s, no one else’s. Summer shook her head and slung her hand through the air as she spoke, “Actually no, I think Unity is great, but that you’re a horrible influence on it!”

Rick reared back, anger and offense playing across his face. Morty could have sworn Rick’s eyes flicked to him before returning back to Summer. Must have been his imagination. “What?!”

“It’s not healthy! You’re getting into all kinds of trouble!” Summer exclaimed coming closer to him. “Y-You’re like leggings and mid-calf boots, you think you’re great together, but really you, really aren’t!”

Rick rolled his eyes again, obviously unimpressed. No real surprise there. “Oh, really, well put, Summer. I-I’m totally fucking convinced. Let’s ask Unity, Unity?”

“I’m really fine, guys, just having a great time!” One of Unity’s influenced called out from the floor. “I need to relax and take it easy for a while!”

“Oh, look, guys, what’s this on the news?” Rick said and pulled up a program of Unity’s newscasters announcing she was just having a good time and that they should lay off. Morty once again rolled his eyes. “Sorry not sorry, but it looks like you guys are a little outnumbered!”

Summer stepped forward and Morty almost wanted to stop her from embarrassing herself. Rick did not respond to emotions. Almost was the key word though. She did need to learn after all and what better teacher was there than her own mistakes? “Well, what if you did it for me? As a favor to us, because you love us.”

Morty was sure now, Rick had looked directly at him. Was he waiting for Morty’s opinion on the matter? So far Morty hadn’t said anything and he wasn’t going to. He knew it was pointless to try, Rick had no benefit to coming home, so he wouldn’t. Simple facts. Rick rolled his eyes. “Love? What? Lame, bye.”

The condescending tone Rick had taken on didn’t surprise Morty at all. Summer turned to Morty. “Morty!”

He sighed and shrugged. “Rick, Summer is just-”

Rick whirled around at Morty’s words. A strange glint in his eyes. It wasn’t something Morty had ever seen before. “S-Summer, is just an emotional, needy, little— _human._ It’s a flaw a in genetics that I haven’t been able to get rid of. I can tolerate it, but I can’t and don’t give a fuck about it. Take a hike!”

Morty rolled his eyes and looked back to the portal. He grabbed Summer’s arm. “C-Come on, Summer. He doesn’t give a fuck. He’s chosen w-what’s important to him. U-U-Unity it was very nice to meet you, take care of him, won’t you?”

Summer stammered as Morty tugged her in the direction of the portal. Morty glanced back and Rick was scowling as Morty walked away. It wasn’t his normal scowl though. It was his I-don’t-like-this-but-I’m-too-stubborn-to-make-it-different scowl. Morty sighed and walked through the portal. Summer following silently behind him.

 

* * *

 

 

It wasn’t until the next day that they saw Rick again. He had wondered into the house looking utterly lost in his own mind. Morty was actually really worried about him. He’d never seen such a dejected look in Rick’s eyes before, but he didn’t know how to approach the subject.

When Summer asked what happened Rick played it off as being him having come to his senses, but Morty could tell from the way he said it. It was lie, and the truth apparently hurt Rick so bad he couldn’t hide it. Unity had left him. Morty wanted to hug the emotionally stunted man, but he smothered that want. Rick definitely wouldn’t appreciate it or worse would take it as pity. So Morty let him disappear into the garage without so much as a word, despite the fact that before he did he had paused looked directly at Morty like he wanted to say something before biting back the words and moving on. Morty was in the very rare and awkward position of not knowing exactly how to handle Rick’s behavior.

It was a couple days before Morty even saw Rick again. And it wasn’t the scientist that approached him. Morty was getting worried. He hadn’t come back like he normally did. Jerry said he was still in the garage but hadn’t come out to eat or drink or anything. So Morty took it upon himself to go investigate.

When he entered the garage, he saw Rick sitting at the workbench, his head buried in his arms. He looked like he might be asleep. Morty hesitantly came over to check on him. He was still breathing so that was a good thing. Morty laid his hand on Rick’s shoulder. “Rick?”

The man didn’t even flinch. Morty shook him slightly, concern lancing through his chest. What had Rick done when he got back? “R-Rick?”

Relief flood Morty when the man let out a small groan. He was okay. “R-Rick, I need to use the bomb room down in the sub-lab. C-Come join me?”

A clearer noise came, but still no major movement. “C-Come on, Rick. I need your help. I-I-It’s important science stuff. So, come on. Get up, go take a shower and meet me in the bomb room, o-okay?”

Rick actually sat up at his words and Morty nearly flinched back at Rick’s expression. It was so filled with emotion and hurt, Morty wanted nothing more than to hold the man close and take all of that pain away. He couldn’t though. Rick didn’t need that right this second. “Rick, d-did you hear what I said?”

“Shower, and meet you in the bomb room, got it,” Rick’s voice didn’t hold any reflection as to his mood. Or maybe it did. Rick’s tone was completely void of anything. He wasn’t condescending or venomous or even soft. It was just empty. Morty nodded excitedly and gave him a smile. Rick flinched a little at Morty’s smile and then looked away like it hurt to look at him.

“C-Come on, I’ll be waiting down there, okay? You’ll feel a lot better when clean and in fresh clothes, and then we can do science stuff,” Morty gently tugged on Rick’s arm. The man followed instantly, standing. He gave Morty an intense look before ruffling his hair and walking slowly out of the garage. Morty nodded, half the problem down.

The teen climbed down the hatch and walked across the main floor, to the door at the back wall. The first room was a place where Rick kept his prisoners that he ran experiments on. Through the door led to the whole sub-lab. It was actually quite massive. There was the bomb room, a chemical room, even a whole living area. It was on the other side of the bomb room. There were dozens more rooms but Morty never really had a reason to go into them, so he didn’t know what there was. He wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to know.

When Morty entered the bomb room, he went over to the standing console that stood in front of the seemingly glass box in the center of the room. It wasn’t glass, it was a special type of material Rick had made that looked like glass but didn’t shatter or crack in the face of multiple nook level explosions. Morty imputed his functioning equation, he knew he could just get the equation from Rick, but he didn’t want to. He wanted to do it himself. “Computer, subtract three from the dimension dividend, it’s exploding rather than creating portals.”

“Subtracting. Done. Equation ready for testing.”

Morty walked over to the box, he tapped in the code, walked over and plugged in the portal-gun. He adjusted the table, before leaving. He wasn’t expecting Rick to rush, hell, he didn’t even want him too. So, he surmised he had around twenty minutes before Rick came down. Depending on Rick’s willingness to get back on track, it could be sooner, it could be later.

Morty tore off his hoodie and walked over to the box. The table had been moved so the only part of Morty he had to put into the box was the part that wasn’t actual human flesh. A few months ago, Morty had saved his idiot of a father from one of Rick’s contraptions. He had been rewarded with his arms being amputated from the elbow down. Rick had made him new ones having them hooked up before they even left the hospital. He tore into Jerry though, by the end of the day Rick had arranged for the house’s monthly expenses to be taken out of an account he had, he even bought the house they lived in. Rick told him since he now owned the place, Jerry was to never set foot in the garage again or his life was forfeit. It was one of the very rare times Rick had showed his emotions, had showed that he actually gave a shit about his Morty. So, he knew if he were to fuck up what was left of his arms even more Rick would be furious, so he kept to the bits that were easily replaceable.

Morty put his arms into the box, picked up the portal gun and fired. A smaller explosion than the one that had thrown him into a wall, but still just an explosion. He swore slightly and pulled out the notebook he kept his math for the equation in. He fiddled with it for a minute, simultaneously trying to figure what he was going to say to Rick, when the man finally came down. Should he pretend everything is normal? Or maybe try to get Rick back in the game? He honestly didn’t know.

“Decrease the number again.”

“By three?”

“No, by one, go by ones until we can get actual portals instead of just explosions,” Morty called up after a moment’s thought. “Take two.”

Morty reached into the arm holes of the box again, picking up the gun and firing. What he wasn’t expecting was to be yanked back by someone with a loud cry of his name. The explosion was smaller still, but no portal yet. When Morty looked at who had grabbed him, it was Rick. The man was now clutching Morty to his chest. “Rick?”

The scientist reared back and let out what Morty could only describe as a whimper. Rick instantly hand his hands all over Morty. He was tracing every part of his body until his hands made their way down to Morty’s. He was perfectly fine. Morty was suddenly faced with a furious looking Rick. Well that was better than what he had been showing earlier. “What the fuck were you thinking?”

Morty felt his brow furrow in confusion. What the hell? Did he forget that his arms weren’t actually, well, his arms? “Rick, I-I-I’m fine. The only part of me in the box is my replacement limbs, I made sure of that. What’s got you so freaked out?”

Rick froze and let out that whimper sound again. Morty noticed that the man had actually done as Morty had asked. He was freshly showered and wearing a dark blue turtle neck, with his normal brown slacks. He wasn’t even wearing shoes, and his hair hadn’t been dried at all. Instead of it’s normal mad scientist style, it was now just a messy dripping mop on his head. Morty couldn’t help but find that absolutely endearing. He was shocked to find though that Rick’s face was completely red. “I-I-I saw the explosion and th-then you, and I-”

Rick cut himself off and sat down on the floor in a slump. Morty crouched down in front of him. “Y-You were worried about me?”

Rick’s eyes wouldn’t meet his. He just continued to stare at the floor, before finally working out the effort to spit out scoffing words, that somehow sounded more scared than vindictive. “Of course, I was, dumbass. I-I can’t-”

Rick cut himself off again. Morty gently tugged on his arm, getting the man to stand again. “Come on, let’s go sit down on the couch.”

“W-We just got down here,” Rick said with more soft confusion, than irritation lacing his tone as he let Morty drag him off. It was still a shock to Morty, to hear this much vulnerable emotion in his voice. This was definitely not normal Rick behavior. “Oh.”

Morty shot him a smile again and pulled Rick into the living space the man had created. “You’re obviously too distraught for actual science stuff.”

“I-I’m not,” Rick defended but his heart definitely wasn’t in it. Any other time Morty would have said that, the man would have snapped back with all the ferocity of a viper. Rick sounded more like he was trying to convince himself.

“Rick, I-I-It’s me. Your Morty,” Morty told him as they took their seat. Rick sat in the corner and Morty sat criss-cross next to him. He and Rick had been going on adventures for coming up on four years now and obviously Rick was losing more of himself than he lets on. “Y-You can be honest with me. It won’t r-ruin your reputation, and who am I g-going to tell anyway if you showed a little of your emotions? What’s with the freak out?”

Rick hesitated. He was stuffing his hands in between his thighs and wringing them over and over again. He looked so embarrassed. Morty knew it was the shame of being out of control of his actions. He was showing his heart and Morty knew first hand that Rick hated showing his heart. “I could barely stand it the first time you b-blew up. I nearly ripped Jerry apart with my bare fucking hands f-f-for putting you in that situation. I-I-I mean I put you in some dangerous situations, b-b-but I would _never hurt you,_ unless it was something I knew I could fix without a moment’s hesitation. A-And when I saw you standing so close, I-I kind of lost it.”

Morty laid a hand on Rick’s arm, squeezing lightly. The teen was torn, hug Rick or let him come to Morty. He thought the likelihood of the second option was very, very slim. “Rick, that’s understandable. I-I-It was instinct. But I’m okay, the only part of me that was in the box was the metal bits. I made sure.”

Rick turned to him suddenly and wrapped his arms around the boy. He leaned forward so much that they both fell backwards so Morty was laying on the couch, Rick laying on top of him. The scientist’s arms were underneath Morty’s, his hands were fisting the teen’s shirt collar. Rick’s face was buried in Morty’s chest. “M-Morty…”

Morty sighed and hugged Rick tightly. Well, this worked too. Morty would do anything to help Rick feel better. “Rick, ta-talk to me. What’s wrong? And don’t just shut me out because talking is too h-human for you, you can fool everyone else, but I know you feel th-things just as much as I do.”

Rick made that whimper sound again and held Morty tighter. “I-I c-can’t…”

“C-Can’t what? Talk or something else?”

Morty was shocked when Rick moved so his face was in his neck instead of chest. Morty’s whole body was basically being enveloped by Rick. It was smothering, but in the best way. Morty ran his hand up and down Rick’s back in a way he hoped was soothing. Rick took a slow deep breath and his words were spat out. Like it physically hurt for him to say them. “Lose you.”

Morty took a slow deep breath. “R-Rick, I’m not going anywhere anytime soon.”

“B-But you will,” Rick said his body going completely lax as it pressed against Morty’s. It was as if all the will that formerly filled Rick to the brim had been expelled suddenly. “U-Unity knew. S-She said you were right, well, Summer was right. I’m a bad influence, and-and-and no matter how much she loved me, she-she couldn’t. I wasn’t even really upset about her leaving, it didn’t matter but you. Y-Y-You left me there, a-and I realized while losing myself in Unity, I lost you too.”

“Rick, I’m right here,” Morty told him softly. The amount of emotion Rick portrayed was stifling. Morty suddenly realized why Rick suppressed it all, he felt too much. When he did feel, any emotion that came out drowned him. With emotions like that, Morty could see why Rick chose to stay numb.

Rick pulled back slightly, so he could look at Morty. Morty nearly burst into tears at the amount of pain etched into Rick’s face. He had never, not the four years they had been going on adventures, seen Rick show that kind of pain. For a while he wasn’t even sure the man felt pain. Now he knew. “Y-You didn’t say anything. I-I-I kept expecting you to say something, but you kept quiet. Y-You were so quiet. A-And then when you did, it was to defend fucking Summer! L-Like it didn’t even matter that I wasn’t coming back with you!”

Morty sighed again, he clutched at Rick. So that was it, Morty’s silence had just proved to Rick that he meant nothing to the boy, that while Morty meant everything to Rick, it didn’t go both ways. Oh, how wrong Rick had been. “Rick, I-I-I only kept quiet because I know you. Y-You were going to do exactly what you wanted, no matter what anyone said, least of all a Morty.”

“Just a Morty?” Rick’s voice had gone void again. Morty would have been scared if it wasn’t for the gentle ferocity that Rick was holding him with. Rick pulled back a hand and traced it over Morty’s cheek. The action was so out of character for Rick, Morty ended up completely frozen. “I-Is that what you think you are to me? _Just_ a Morty.”

Morty shook his head slightly but sighed. Rick needed honesty, Morty wasn’t sure the man’s psyche could take it otherwise. “Rick, everyone knows how Rick’s f-f-feel about their Mortys. They care about them in the abstract, the-the hypothetical idealization of a Morty. There being infinite numbers of us, w-why should they care about the individuals? W-We aren’t special when each and everyone of us is replaceable.”

“No, damnit!” Rick slammed his closed fist against the couch. Anger and hurt took root in his expression. “I-I mean all of that is true, for the mass majority of Ricks. T-They don’t want to replace their Mortys, but why live without them when they could just find another one? B-B-But not me. You are _mine_. My Morty, do you know how rare you are? Morty, there is only about sixty different realities where a Morty can produce his own portal-gun, and most of the time those Mortys are complete dicks, they take so much after their Rick it’s fucking pathetic. But you? You are the sweetest Morty I have ever had the pleasure to come across, and you are _mine.”_

The sheer amount of possessiveness that laced Rick’s tone cause Morty to shiver. He knew it was delight that cause that shiver, but now was definitely not the time or place. “Rick, I-I-I didn’t know you felt that way about me. I knew you cared about me but-”

Rick was full on cupping his cheek now, pain-filled sadness was the mixture spread across the man’s face. “I know. H-H-How could I ever have told you? It’d ruin everything.”

Morty watched as Rick’s eyes flicked down to his mouth which was now gaping at his Rick. When he convinced Rick to come down here, this wasn’t the expected result. He never expected Rick to come full out like that. _It’d ruin everything._ Morty internally scoffed at his own thoughts being reflected out of Rick. Morty’s emotions towards his Rick would almost surely ruin everything. But Rick’s care? How could that ruin everything? Rick only felt the familial care towards his Morty, right? That’s all that was. Morty couldn’t allow himself to hope for more. He wouldn’t. “R-Rick, you are a bad influence. You are the single biggest asshole in the entire multiverse, but you are Rick Sanchez. A man who demolishes anything that stands between him and what he wants. Nothing stops Rick Sanchez. And yeah, m-m-maybe your general personality shouldn’t be modeled after, but that sheer d-determination that you have, to fight for what you want. That is something to look up too. You don’t think it matters half the time, but you still go after it. That’s what makes you amazing, Rick.”

Morty watched as Rick crumpled a bit. He looked conflicted, torn even. “Nothing stops Rick Sanchez, huh?”

Morty nodded and laughed a little. Nothing could or ever would stop him. “Nothing. E-Even nontangible things, social constructs and ideologies. They all pale in comparison to your might.”

Rick snickered, his nose gently running along Morty’s jaw. He clutched the boy to him. “Y-You know what, Morty? You’re right. I’m Rick fucking Sanchez.”

The next thing Morty knew Rick was kissing him.

Morty completely froze, his brain short-circuiting.

Rick. Was. Kissing him and not like a loving little peck on his forehead. Full on, make-out kissing.

Morty didn’t realize he hadn’t reacted how he should of when Rick pulled back. He had a look of soft resignation on his face. “Well, one thing stops Rick Sanchez. I’m so sorry, Morty. You won’t have to remember that, I’ll take it away. D-D-Don’t worry about it.”

Fear lanced through him. Take it away? Why on earth-?

_Because you’re still frozen, you idiot. Move before he does._

Morty clutched at Rick’s sweater holding him close. He couldn’t allow Rick to take away that memory. Rick had kissed him. Giving him everything he wanted, Morty was the one who was supposed to be taking care of Rick, giving him everything he wanted. Not the other way around. “Don’t you dare.”

“M-Morty,” Rick suddenly sounded a little fearful. Despite that though, Morty was glad to hear Rick’s voice was majorly returning normal. “Y-You don’t want me like that, it’s fine. I-I don’t give a fuck, you can just forget about it, and-and-and we can just move on like normal.”

“You idiot,” Morty muttered as he pulled Rick into another kiss. This one was exactly how it was supposed to be. It still made Morty’s mind go a little blank, but at least time he hadn’t frozen up. Rick's kisses were everything and nothing like Morty had expected. He knew they would be intense, but what he wasn’t expecting was the sheer amount of emotion that Rick relayed through one simple action. It was intoxicating in a way that set Morty’s very bones on fire in all the right ways. Rick was clinging to him and Morty was pretty sure he could die right then with not a single regret.

When Rick pulled back he was slightly out of breath. His normally substance clouded eyes were burning a bright azure, and Morty swore he could drown in them. Rick snickered and nuzzled his jaw again. Morty could definitely get used to Rick doing that. Actually, fuck getting used to it, he was already addicted to it. “What was that, Mort?”

“Y-Y-You took me off guard th-the first time,” Morty stammered out as Rick plastered himself to Morty, intentionally completely enveloping him now. Morty was in heaven completely surrounded by Rick. He couldn’t imagine a better place to be. “I-I couldn’t let you take the memory. I-I couldn’t lose this.”

Rick snickered again. Morty was glad Rick was back and in a good mood. After a moment though, he looked up at Morty suddenly very serious. “Morty, do you realize the implication of this? We have to hide this, as much as I think that it’s dumb to care who is with who. W-We can’t even reproduce, so the biological detriments are out the window, but while obviously you and me don’t care about that. Th-The family does. So there’s that, and the fact that I make an awful romantic partner. I mean, you saw first hand with Unity. I will take everything you can give me, and I won’t be very forthcoming with anything in return.”

Morty leaned up and kissed Rick softly again. The scientist melted into the action. If that was how he reacted every time to Morty kissing him, the boy would gladly hand over his very soul. “Rick, I-I know all that. I don’t care, I want you. Y-You don’t know how long.”

“A long time?” Rick said a smirk stretching across his face, and his eyebrow wiggling tantalizingly

Morty snorted in laughter and hugged Rick to him. “I first realized I wanted more than the grandfather/grandson relationship, w-w-when you went off to prison after that whole fiasco with Tammy. It showed I really didn’t know how to live without you.”

Rick looked utterly shocked, he started laughing a little. “Morty, that was two years ago. Christ, kid, pining much?”

“Sh-Shut up, Rick,” Morty stammered out, embarrassment taking over. Yeah, Rick the asshole was back.

To his surprise though, Rick placing a loving trail of kisses along his jaw, ending with a small kiss to his lips. “Don’t worry, baby, I’ve been pining just as much. S-So, on a completely different topic, you do realize I have the exact equation you’re trying to figure out written down in my safe? The safe you have the combination too.”

Morty snorted and nodded. “Y-Yes, Rick. I know that. I w-wanted to do it myself though. If I can figure this out by m-myself then I can be your—I can be equal to you, well more on your level anyway.”

A genuinely loving smile crossed over Rick’s face, before being replaced by a significantly less intense emotion. Rick dragged him up and started tugging him back towards the bomb room. Morty felt a sense of ease settle within his very being, everything was back to normal. Rick paused in the doorway and leaned down. Cupping Morty’s cheek he kissed him like he had earlier, drowning him with his feelings toward the boy. Well, almost back to normal. When Rick pulled back he was smirking.

 “Then come on, idiot. We’ve got work to do.”


End file.
